May 1, 2015 - Keith Byndom and Council member Joyce Johnson each were appointed to boards during the Center City Council meeting held on Monday, April 27, 2015. Johnson has served as the city's representative on the Deep East Texas Council of Government Board and was once again elected to that position by her fellow council members.
The Center Housing Authority has recently had a vacancy on their board. Members of the board recommended Keith Byndom, Center Fire Chief, as a new member and the recommendation was presented to the city council. As a result the council voted to appoint Byndom to the Center Housing Authority as its newest board member.
Resolution 2015-18 Nomination of Project for 2015 TxDOT TAP for the development of facilities for pedestrians and bicycles within the city was approved by the council. Just previous to the meeting, a public hearing was held to explain the proposed project. Chad Nehring, City Manager, stated TxDOT had a new call for programs for public improvement projects in the communities.
"As they do every two to three years when they come out with these new program calls they change what their goals are and what they're looking for and how their scoring criteria work," said Nehring. "We've worked with our grant consultant and a project engineer, or at least a project consulting engineer to try to decipher TxDOT's latest call. It is called Transportation Alternative Program, or Transportation Alternative Projects."
According to Nehring, it is geared toward non-motorized safe access through communities, which would include bicycles and other wheeled transportation absent of a motor. These routes have different construction standards and are usually seen in larger metropolitan areas.
"We tried to put together a project based on the parks master plan, interconnecting parks, interconnecting school campuses and some other standard pedestrian sidewalk projects that either have already been programmed or have been prioritized by the council or Street Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) as high priority pedestrian sidewalks," said Nehring.
The proposed application for sponsorship by the city and application includes sidewalks on Martin Luther King Drive, which has already been planned by the SEDC, and was awaiting the second half of its funding in the next fiscal year. Another portion of the projected project would include a 10-foot pedestrian and bicycle pathway along the north side of Roughrider Driver all the way to the new softball complex.
The approval of this application is not an award of funds for the project; it is only approval to move forward with the application for possible project.
One activity which Nehring says would benefit from this project and has become a lot more common in Center are 5K runs, "You've seen more and more of the 5K runs I think now we're to the point of having about one a month. Even if they're not highly organized we're about having one a month and this will create a circuit that will not have them crossing any highways or back and forth traffic on the same pathway. It would keep you from having to close roadways and other things and still allow for those events and activities."
The council approved an addendum to the Center Municipal Airport lease agreement as the current lease agreement does not allow for septic or sewage at any of the airport hangar locations and are required to be self-maintained. Current construction at the airport is requesting the state approved septic system for a 64x16 area of land adjacent to the hangar structure outside of area 20 on the layout plan. This addendum is not to be included in the standard lease agreement and is not expected to impact future hangar locations.
During the items of interest portion of the meeting Mayor David Chadwick commended the City of Center staff for receiving recognition from the Government Finance Office Association as it shows the transparency of the budget and reflects the good job performed by the staff.
The John D. Windham Civic Center is reaching its 5th anniversary and Nehring mentioned to the council a small reception to commemorate those five years will be held on May 6 from 4pm to 5:30pm.
According to Nehring DETCOG awarded a partial grant of $20,000 to the City of Center for it's law enforcement grant application. The request was for $75,740 which is expected to provide for the purchase of a server, 12 computers and anti-virus software. He also stated the scoring was changed on the community development projects and the city missed the funding by one point on community development program applications this cycle.
TxDOT is planning $1million in handicap ramp and sidewalk improvements in the City of Center in areas which have already been prioritized by the council or SEDC. Nehring remarked that is much better than a grant as TxDOT is footing the entire bill, "We'll come back in and fill in some others with the downtown grant enhancement project that the council was notified of award of last year. We'll have to slow down our construction, but I don't think that's going to delay the award."
The meeting was adjourned at 5:20pm.
Items on the agenda receiving approval include: 1) Minutes of the April 13, 2015 Regular Meeting. 2) Resolution 2015-18 – Nomination of Project for 2015 TxDOT TAP. 3) Addendum to Airport Lease. 4) Drainage Improvement Construction Agreement at a cost of $36,000. 5) Appointment of Joyce Johnson as Deep East Texas Council of Governments Board Member. 6) Appointment of Keith Byndom to Center Housing Authority Board of Directors. 7) Adjournment.
